Improvement in carding-mac



e, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

vVVlIEPl-IEN R. PARKHURST, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARDING-NIACHIN ES.

Specic'ation forming part of Letters Patent No. 32,380, dated May 2l, 186i.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN R. PARKHURST, of the city and State of New York, have iuvented, made, and applied to use certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Rollers for Carding-Machines, the.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot the construction and operation of' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making partof this specification, whereinl Figure lis a vertical section of my improved rollers as in place for use. Fig. 2 is a plan showing a portion of said rollers, and Fig: -3 is a section of one of the feed-rollers in larger size than in Fig. l.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

The ordinary rollers used for carding or picking machines tend to compress and hold the cotton, wool, or other fibrous material as l it is fed into the machine, so that instead of said fibrous material being opened, loosened, and evenly spread on the cylinder ot' card or other teeth the same passes in in lumps or bunches, which not only prevents the fibers being evenly spread on the cylinder, but also tends to envelop and retain any foreign matter in said fiber and render it more difficult to remove t-he saine.

The nature of my said invention consists in an improved construction of feed-rollers formed of serrated or comb plates that loosen and open the iiber as passed from the apron to the cylinder, and do not compress, injure, or cause lumps in the mass of fibrous substance, but spread the same evenly on the cylinder; and this construction of rollersis adapted to and may be used Vwith almost all kinds of carding, picking, or other machines for treating the the unspun fibers.

In the drawings I have represented a cylinder a of card-teeth; but the same may be covered with ,any other kind of teeth, and

represent any portion of a carding, picking,u

or other machine to which my invention may be applied. l

Z1 and c are the feed-rollers, and d is a vibrating brush, to which parts my invention relates.

The roller b is formed in a peculiar manner by the use of cross-plates serrated at their ends, which in consequence of their peculiar construction and arrangement do not require any center shaft for forming said roller. I

take strips of metal of the width required "I and cut or otherwise form on the same teeth l l and place said strips together, crossing each other, and secure them together until I form a complete cylinder. I have found the proportion and arrangement of the strips `shown in Fig. 3 to be the most convenient.

Each strip is formed with two holes, and I provide eight rods 2 2,secured at one end to the metallic head on the journals of the roller. I then commence and thread on the plates or strips `g h, t' 7s in succession, crossing each pair of plates at right angles to each other, and then placing the next pair diagonally to the previous ones on the intermediate pairs of rods, and continue threading on these strips or plates in this manner until a complete roller the rods 2 2 ,to said end, which rods hold the said ends of the rollers and plates firmly together. Care must be taken to have the whole ot the partscentral with the journals before end compression. This may-be ac-- complished by a pipe or other device to receive the roller. It will be evident that by this arrangement of plat-es or strips the center of the roller is a compact mass, obviating the necessity of a shaft, While the teeth on the edges are kept apart, there being the thickness of the intervening plates between the ranges of teeth longitudinally of the roller, and the whole surface is a mass of comb-plate teeth and intervening spaces.

The plates shown in Fig. 3 are about the actual size and shape that I make use of. The same may, however, be slightly varied either in size or shape.

The feod-roller c is to be formed with longitudinal ribs, and the edges of these ribs may or may not be formed with notches or teeth.'

These two rollers h and c are to be set in suitable journals, boxes, or bearings, and geared together, so as to revolve at the same or slightly-dilterent speed, and the roller c should receive a sliding end motion in its journals. For this purpose I have represented the grooved zigzag cam 4 on the shaft (of c) to `that a vibrating motion can be given to the same. For this purpose I have represented the zigzag cam 3 on the shaft of the cylindera, and a lever e, between this cam and brush, communicates a vibrating `movement to the brush d for the aforesaid purpose. The fibrous material is t0 be supplied by any suitable belt. The red lines, Fig. I, represent the position thereof.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows; The roller b tends not only to feed in the fibrous material, but the serrationsformingthesurfacethereof penetrate any l umps, tending to t loosen them. This feed-roller, however, does not become clogged, because the shape of the teeth allows the fibrous matteito dlWQffeasily, and the teeth of said roller arenot injured byanylumps, burrs, or other foreign onhard substances. The roller c acts in conjunction with the lroller b to loosenand comb the fibrous mass as passed into the machine, (instead of compressing i,t,) because the llongitudi nal ribs only detain the ibersandprevent their belingdrawn off too fast by thecylindel @,andburrs or, lumps will be held back ,behfind these ribs, which moveslowly, in comparison with the surface ofthe cylinder a. Besidesthis, the end inotion of the, roller c tends to separate, loosen, andevenly distribute the fibrous mass. The

'brush d tends Ito lay the fibers upon the teeth of the Icylinder a with still greater uniformf ity, becauseits vibration is to be rapid, and this brushcausesthe teeth to take a firmer holdup@ the fipersty slightly detaining them, and this operationy does not tend teem? bed any foreign substance in the teeth; hence the fibers are inthe best possible condition for anyof the usual operations of cleaning, cai-ding, or picking.

I have represented my feeding-rollers as acting together and with the brush, as jointly they lay the fibers' of wool,fcotton, or other material in the best position for the subsequent operations; but it Will be evident that each respective part has peculiarities of construction or operation. I therefore do not limit myself to the combined use of the parts, but intend to use them either jointly or separately or combined with other well-known parts.

It will be evident that a disk might be used ters Patent, iS-

l. The employment of a yseries of met'a ll ic s tripsor plates `with Serrat-ions on their edges placed crosswise of eac'h other, substant ially as set forth, to form a feed roller or cylinder adapted t0 carding and similar machines, as specified. A

2. In acardingorsimilarmachine, forming the upperfeedroller c with a series of ribs,

i 'n themanner specilied'.for more effectual'lyV d'etaining lumpsor foreign substances as they pass to a carding or toothed vcylin'd'er, so as to causesaidlumps to be opened or sep"- arated, as specified. 2

s. R. PARKHURs'r. Witnesses:v

LEMUELW. SERRELL,

Trios.' GEO. HAROLD. 

